Method of navigating axes of information elements

ABSTRACT

An embodiment of the present invention provides a method for shifting an active information element among information elements disposed on an array thereof, a group of arrays thereof and a plurality of arrays thereof. A system and an interface configured to carry out the method is hereby provided.

CROSS-REFERENCES

The present application is a continuation of, and claims priority under35 U.S.C. 120 to, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/244,513, filedSep. 25, 2011, entitled ACTIVE ELEMENTS, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety, and which is a nonprovisional of, and claimspriority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) to, U.S. provisional patent applicationNo. 61/438,609, filed on Feb. 1, 2011, entitled ACTIVE AND SELECTEDDOCUMENTS ON AXES THEREOF; EXPANDABLE AND COLLAPSIBLE AXES OF DOCUMENTS;NON-HOMOGENEOUS OBJECTS MAGNIFICATION AND REDUCTION, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Any publication of andany patent issuing from the foregoing U.S. patent applications is herebyincorporated herein by reference. Furthermore, the disclosure of thepriority provisional application is contained in the Appendix hereto,which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to computer systems and morespecifically to a method, a system and an interface that facilitateslocalization, organization and use of information elements anduser-selectable elements. More precisely, the present invention relatesto a method of navigating among information elements.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the always-increasing amount of documents one has to deal with on adaily basis it becomes harder to manage the documents (or information orfile) on an item-by-item basis. An alternative document managementsystem adapted to organize large amount of information would bebeneficial to the user.

United States Patent Application Publication No.: US 2007/0214169 A1,published on Sep. 13, 2007 discloses a Multi-dimensional locating systemand method (title), which is incorporated herewith by reference. Thepatent application provides embodiments for managing and displaying axesof documents and other computer-readable files. An axis of documentsgrouping a plurality of documents along a predetermined order, interalia, is taught.

The use of an axis of documents brings some specific behavior as opposeto document presentation mechanism in the art. One of the specific of anaxis is that one might want to navigate thereon while making selectionsof documents and seeing a magnified version of a document.

The use of a small number of axes of information elements on a displaymight result in a non-optimal use of the usable display area. A largernumber of axes might be desirable to provide more information to aviewer. A number of challenges need to be addressed in order to providefunctions performed on a larger quantity of documents. For instance, theselection of elements needs to be identified in a fashion discriminatingthe selected elements among the other documents. Additionally, theelement on which the focus is also needs to be discriminated.

Also, navigation among a plurality of axes and among a plurality ofgroups of axes requires particular behaviors that the prior art fails toprovide. Other possibilities could also be leveraged by the manipulationof a plurality of axes that the prior art fails to take advantage from.

In view of the prior art it appears that improvements over the prior artis desirable to improve the user experience and usability either withinnovative graphical, structural or functional improvements.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order toprovide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. Thissummary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is notintended to identify key/critical elements of the invention or todelineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to presentsome concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to themore detailed description that is presented later.

This invention generally refers to user-selectable elements that mightrepresent computer-readable files like documents and multimedia assets.Information elements can alternatively be referred to as,user-selectable elements, menu icons or thumbnails that are associatedto an attribute, a category or a tag and arranged as explained below. Inorder to lighten the reading of the present specification, the term“document” is generally used without intending to limit the scope of thepresent patent application only to documents, unless expresslyspecified.

Also, the invention is generally described using an assembly ofdocuments called an axis of documents. The axis of documents generallyrefers to, but is not limited to, a comprehensive graphical layout ofdocuments. Hereinbelow referred to as an axis that is a substantiallyrectilinear arrangement of documents. The axis might not necessarily bestraight but preferably has a consistent shape providing a viewer enindication of continuity therebetween documents disposed thereon. Inother words, the axis of documents can be defined by a single axis or adouble axis of documents (or more adjacent axes of documents) and theaxis can be completely straight, slightly curved, substantially curved,angled, following a particular shape or having a consistent shape overwhich documents are disposed in a reasonably consistent fashion adaptedto allow a viewer to infer a comprehensive suite of documents. The axespresented in the embodiments below are illustrated in the horizontalposition while they could be disposed vertically without departing fromthe scope of the present disclosure.

An embodiment referred to below provides one or more groups of axescomprising documents thereon. Each axis of documents is preferablyrectilinear to easily be located adjacent with other axes of documentsto efficiently use the useful display area of the display. A systemadapted to carry on the embodiments, a user graphical interface adaptedto display the embodiments, a method adapted to provides the stepsrequired to enable the embodiments and a medium storing instructionsenabling the method once read by a machine are all considered within thescope of the present invention.

Therefore, an embodiment of the present invention provides a pluralityof axes of documents adapted to form a group of axes of documents.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a mechanism adapted tovisually discriminate a document on an axis of document representing thedocument in focus for a user.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides an active documenton at least one axis of documents.

One embodiment of the present invention provides an active document oneach of the axes of documents in a group of axes; the active document ofthe active axis of documents being adapted to change.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides an active documentthat is adapted to move between axes of documents.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a method ofselecting an active element along an axis by using keys on a keyboard;by pointing a mouse or another pointing device on a display, moving abody part in a sensing regions of multi-dimensional sensors, andtouching a display with a finger (or hovered with a user-managed pointeror with a human body part contacting a touch-screen).

One embodiment of the present invention provides a method of magnifyingan active document by displaying the selected document in a magnifiedfashion on a display.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides an active documenton axes of documents that are not selected (e.g. active); the activedocuments on non-selected axes remaining still when the active documenton the active axis moves.

One other embodiment of the present invention provides a method ofselecting an active axis of documents among a plurality of axes ofdocuments.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a visuallydiscriminating method of representing an active axis of documents.

One additional embodiment of the present invention provides a selectedaxis of documents bordered with enlarged rails or borders.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides an axis thatbecomes active when an active document is enabled.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a method of selectingdocuments on an axis of documents.

One other embodiment of the present invention provides a method ofselecting a plurality of documents (adjacent or not) on an axis ofdocuments.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a method ofperforming actions on selected documents on an axis of documents.

One additional embodiment of the present invention provides to keepdocuments selected on an axis of documents that is not selected oractive.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a mechanism adapted toassemble, or to display, a plurality of groups of axes of documents. Oneof the groups of axes of documents being active, and/or selected, whilethe other group(s) of axes being inactive, and/or non-selected. Theactions being performed on the active axis of documents on the activegroup of axes.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a mechanism adaptedto select a group of axes of documents, among a plurality of groups ofaxes, by selecting a desired axis of documents.

One embodiment of the present invention provides groups of axes ofdocuments that can be reordered therebetween on a graphical userinterface by selecting and/or dragging a group of axes to a desiredposition.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides groups of axes ofdocuments that are adapted to be independently longitudinally moveableand independently magnifyable.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a method ofnavigating among axes of documents, the method comprising: displaying aplurality of documents along a plurality of axes of documents, each ofthe axes of documents having a respective collation function and anactive document thereon, the active document of an axis of documentsbeing adapted to switch to an adjacent document on the same axis thusenabling navigation on the axis of documents.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executableinstructions that, when executed by a processor of a computer system,provide a method of navigating among information elements disposed in alayout of information elements, defining a matrix-like structure, themethod comprising: causing a plurality of information elements to bedisplayed among a plurality of axes of information elements; and causinga first information element from a departing axis of informationelements, at an axial location thereof, to become an active informationelement; wherein the active information element is adapted to shift to asecond information element disposed on an arrival axis of informationelements when the arrival axis of information elements is parallel tothe departing axis of information elements; and the second informationelement has an axial location corresponding to the axial location of thefirst information element.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a computerizedsystem configured to read computer-executable instructions adapted toenable a program enabling an interface adapted to display axes ofcomputer-readable files and identify an active computer-readable filethereon, the computerized system comprising a processing unit configuredto process the computer executable instructions; and a displayconfigured to display the interface; the program, when executed, beingoperative to: cause a plurality of computer-readable files to bedisplayed among a plurality of axes of computer-readable files; andcause a first computer-readable file from a departing axis ofcomputer-readable files, at an axial location thereof, to become anactive computer-readable file; wherein the active computer-readable fileis adapted to shift to a second computer-readable file disposed on anarrival axis of computer-readable files when the arrival axis ofcomputer-readable files is parallel to the departing axis ofcomputer-readable files; and the second computer-readable file has anaxial location corresponding to the axial location of the firstcomputer-readable file.

Other advantages might become apparent to the skilled reader of thispatent specification in light of the appended drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary computer network;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary multi-devices networklayout;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of a typical exemplary computersystem;

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement with activedocuments therein in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement with activedocuments and a selected document therein in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement with activedocuments and selected documents therein in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement with activedocuments and a selected documents therein in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement with activedocuments and a selected document therein in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement with activedocuments and a selected document therein in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement with activedocuments and a selected document therein in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement with activedocuments and a selected document therein in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement with activedocuments and a selected document therein in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement with activedocuments and a selected document therein in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement with activedocuments and a selected document therein in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement with activedocuments and a selected document therein in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsseparated in two groups of axes of documents and disposed in alongitudinal and parallel arrangement with active documents and selecteddocuments therein in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 17 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement with particulardocuments alignment in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 18 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement with particulardocuments alignment in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 19 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement with particulardocuments alignment in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 20 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement with particulardocuments alignment in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 21 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement with particulardocuments alignment in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 22 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement with particulardocuments alignment in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 23 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement with identificationsthereon in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 24 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement with identificationsthereon in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 25 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement with activedocuments thereon in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 26 is a schematic illustration of multiple axes of documentsdisposed in a longitudinal and parallel arrangement and an axis ofdocuments disposed at a non-zero angle thereof with active documentsthereon in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 27 is a schematic illustration of a block diagram in accordancewith an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 28 is a schematic illustration of a block diagram in accordancewith an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 29 is a schematic illustration of a block diagram in accordancewith an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT(S) OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is now described with reference to the drawings,wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elementsthroughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation,numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. It may be evident, however, thatthe present invention may be practiced without these specific details.In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in blockdiagram form in order to facilitate describing the present invention.

The description is separated with subtitles to facilitate itsreadability. The subtitles include descriptions of portions of inventionthat might be interrelated despite they might appear under differentsubtitles. In other words, subtitles are not intended to separate partof the same invention or different inventions described therein but arerather intended to structure the text.

The features provided in this specification mainly relates to basicprinciples for managing axes of documents. These code/instructions arepreferably stored on a machine-readable medium adapted to be read andacted upon to with a computer or a machine having correspondingcode/instructions reading capability.

Exemplary Network

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary network 10 in which a system and method,consistent with the present invention, may be implemented. The network10 may include multiple client devices 12 connected to multiple servers14, 16, 18 via a network 20. The network 20 may include a local areanetwork (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a telephone network, such asthe Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), an intranet, the Internet,Wi-Fi, WiMAX or a combination of networks. Two client devices 12 andthree servers 14, 16, 18 have been illustrated as connected to network20 for simplicity. In practice, there may be more or less client devicesand servers. Also, in some instances, a client device may perform thefunctions of a server and a server may perform the functions of a clientdevice.

The client devices 12 may include devices, such as mainframes,minicomputers, personal computers, laptops, personal digital assistants,telephones, or the like, capable of connecting to the network 20. Theclient devices 12 may transmit data over the network 20 or receive datafrom the network 20 via a wired, wireless, or optical connection.

The servers 14, 16, 18 may include one or more types of computersystems, such as a mainframe, minicomputer, or personal computer,capable of connecting to the network 20 to enable servers 14, 16, 18 tocommunicate with the client devices 12. In alternative implementations,the servers 14, 16, 18 may include mechanisms for directly connecting toone or more client devices 12. The servers 14, 16, 18 may transmit dataover network 14 or receive data from the network 20 via a wired,wireless, or optical connection.

In an implementation consistent with the present invention, the server14 may include a search engine 22 usable by the client devices 12. Theservers 14 may store documents, such as web pages, accessible by theclient devices 12.

With reference to FIG. 2, a network 20 includes the content cloud 30, acontent database 32, content devices 34-38, and devices 40-48. Thenetwork mediator 28 enables the network devices 32-38 to communicatewith each other without pre-configuring each device.

The content cloud 30 represent a content source such as the Internet,where content exists at various locations across the globe. The contentincludes multimedia content such as audio and video. The mediator 28allows the content cloud to provide content to devices 40-48.

The content database 32 is a storage device that maintains content. Thecontent database 32 may be a stand-alone device on an externalcommunication network. The mediator 28 communicates with the contentdatabase 32 to access and retrieve content.

The content devices 34-38 include intelligent devices, such as, forexample, personal computers, laptops, cell phones and personal digitalassistants. The content devices 32-38 are capable or storing contentinformation.

The devices 40-48 are intelligent devices that receive content from acontent source 30-38. However, the devices 30-38 can also operate asservers to distribute content to other client devices.

Exemplary Client Architecture

FIG. 3 and the following discussion provide a brief, general descriptionof an exemplary apparatus in which at least some aspects of the presentinvention may be implemented. The present invention will be described inthe general context of computer-executable instructions, such as programmodules, being executed by a personal computer. However, other apparatusmay affect the methods of the present invention. Program modules mayinclude routines, programs, objects, components, data structures,applets, WEB 2.0 type of evolved networked centered applications, etc.that perform a task(s) or implement particular abstract data types.Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that at least someaspects of the present invention may be practiced with otherconfigurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, networkcomputers, minicomputers, set top boxes, mainframe computers, gamingconsole and the like. At least some aspects of the present invention mayalso be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks areperformed by remote processing devices linked through a communicationsnetwork. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may belocated in local and/or remote memory storage devices.

Now, with reference to FIG. 3, an exemplary apparatus 100 forimplementing at least some aspects of the present invention includes ageneral purpose-computing device in the form of a conventional personalcomputer 120. The personal computer 120 may include a processing unit121, a system memory 122, and a system bus 123 that couples varioussystem components, including the system memory 122, to the processingunit 121. The system bus 123 may be any of several types of busstructures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. Thesystem memory may include read only memory (ROM) 124 and/or randomaccess memory (RAM) 125. A basic input/output system 126 (BIOS),containing basic routines that help to transfer information betweenelements within the personal computer 120, such as during start-up, maybe stored in ROM 124. The personal computer 120 may also include a harddisk drive 127 for reading from and writing to a hard disk, (not shown),a magnetic disk drive 128 for reading from or writing to a (e.g.,removable) magnetic disk 129, and an optical disk drive 130 for readingfrom or writing to a removable (magneto) optical disk 131 such as acompact disk or other (magneto) optical media. The hard disk drive 127,magnetic disk drive 128, and (magneto) optical disk drive 130 may becoupled with the system bus 123 by a hard disk drive interface 132, amagnetic disk drive interface 133, and a (magneto) optical driveinterface 134, respectively. The drives and their associated storagemedia provide nonvolatile (or persistent) storage of machine-readableinstructions, data structures, program modules and other data for thepersonal computer 120. Although the exemplary environment describedherein employs a hard disk, a removable magnetic disk 129 and aremovable optical disk 131, those skilled in the art will appreciatethat other types of storage media, such as magnetic cassettes, flashmemory cards, digital video disks, Bernoulli cartridges, random accessmemories (RAMs), read only memories (ROM), and the like, may be usedinstead of, or in addition to, the storage devices introduced above.

A number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk 127, magneticdisk 129, (magneto) optical disk 131, ROM 124 or RAM 125, such as anoperating system 135 (for example, Windows® NT™ 4.0, sold by Microsoft®Corporation of Redmond, Wash.), one or more application programs 136,other program modules 137 (such as “Alice”, which is a research systemdeveloped by the User Interface Group at Carnegie Mellon Universityavailable at www.Alice.org, OpenGL from Silicon Graphics Inc. ofMountain View Calif., or Direct 3D from Microsoft Corp. of BellevueWash.), and/or program data 138 for example.

A user may enter commands and information into the personal computer 120through input devices, such as a keyboard 140, a camera 141 and pointingdevice 142 for example. Other input devices (not shown) such as amicrophone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, a touchsensitive screen, accelerometers adapted to sense movements of the useror movements of a device, or the like may also be included. These andother input devices are often connected to the processing unit 121through a serial port interface 146 coupled to the system bus. However,input devices may be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallelport, a game port, blue tooth connection or a universal serial bus(USB). For example, since the bandwidth of the camera 141 may be toogreat for the serial port, the video camera 141 may be coupled with thesystem bus 123 via a video capture card (not shown). The video monitor147 or other type of display device may also be connected to the systembus 123 via an interface, such as a video adapter 148 for example. Thevideo adapter 148 may include a graphics accelerator. One or morespeaker 162 may be connected to the system bus 123 via a sound card 161(e.g., a wave table synthesizer such as product number AWE64 Gold Cardfrom Creative® Labs of Milpitas, Calif.). In addition to the monitor 147and speaker(s) 162, the personal computer 120 may include otherperipheral output devices (not shown), such as a printer for example. Asan alternative or an addition to the video monitor 147, a stereo videooutput device, such as a head mounted display or LCD shutter glasses forexample, could be used.

The personal computer 120 may operate in a networked environment thatdefines logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as aremote computer 149. The remote computer 149 may be another personalcomputer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or othercommon network node, and may include many or all of the elementsdescribed above relative to the personal computer 120, although only amemory storage device has been illustrated in FIG. 1. The logicalconnections depicted in FIG. 2 include a local area network (LAN) 14 anda wide area network (WAN) 152, an intranet and the Internet.

When used in a LAN, the personal computer 120 may be connected to theLAN 14 through a network interface adapter (or “NIC”) 153. When used ina WAN, such as the Internet, the personal computer 120 may include amodem 154 or other means for establishing communications over the widearea network 152 (e.g. Wi-Fi, WiMax . . . ). The modem 154, which may beinternal or external, may be connected to the system bus 123 via theserial port interface 146. In a networked environment, at least some ofthe program modules depicted relative to the personal computer 120 maybe stored in the remote memory storage device. The network connectionsshown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communicationslink between the computers may be used.

The Interface

An interface program providing an interface for managing documents inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention is installed on a machinee.g. a computer system. The interface can be programmed using variousprogramming languages e.g. C++, Java or other suitable programminglanguages. Programming of these languages is well known in the art andis adapted to be readable to provide executable instructions to ahardware system and will not be further described therein. The interfacemight run through the operating system and the hardware of the computersystem or, alternatively, through a network based system e.g.client-server, and/cloud computing system. The interface is adapted tomanage documents, computer files, pictures, multimedia content,applications (i.e. computer programs), menu elements, sets of icons andother user-selectable elements in a comprehensive fashion.

Several embodiments follows: Documents are stored on a machine-readablemedium and can be retrieved on demand when needed with the interfaceprogram. Documents are disposed in an axis-like layout providing avisually comprehensive display arrangement of the documents. The axiscan, illustratively, among other possibilities, be based on a selectionof attribute(s), tag(s), category(ies), owner of documents, achronological order, a statistical order or an order representing anincreasing file size. Combinations of the above-listed possible choices,inter alia, are possible if desired to build a query adapted to reducethe number of documents to be displayed on the axis. The axis thus helpsthe viewer to infer additional meaning from the comprehensive layout,consistent display and distribution of the documents thereon.

An axis is adapted to accommodate a single type of documents or, ifdesired, more than one type of documents, and/or a mix of documents,computer files, multimedia contents and/or user-selectable menuelements. Documents might overlap to squeeze more documents on the spaceavailable on the display. Magnification of selected documents on an axiscan be made to increase the level of details of the selected documents.

Using an axis of documents helps to meaningfully and intuitively displaya group of documents. An axis of documents can be embodied as being asubstantially linear distribution of documents adapted to dispose eachdocument to be displayed on a line or on a curved line. A curved or acircular axis of documents is also contemplated to be within the scopeof the present disclosure. The exact shape of the axis is secondary,what matters, inter alia, is that the layout structure of an axisprovides a comprehensive suite of documents from which a viewer caninfer an order, a sequence or a relationship between documents. Thedisplay of the axis of documents might be made in accordance with apredetermined order (e.g. chronologically), or not. A chronologicaldistribution of documents can sort documents on a timeline. Thechronological order can either be linear or non-linear; meaning that aunit of time has always the same graphical length on the display in thelinear configuration. The non-linear configuration might non-evenlydisplay similar units of time because the distribution of documentsalong the timeline prevails over the linearity of time. Anotherillustrative embodiment is a group of juxtaposed axes of documentsgrouped together to form an axis of documents referring to a matrix ofdocuments.

The display of documents on an axis of documents allows to contextuallymanage documents as a flow, or an ongoing suite, of documents instead ofdealing with each document independently. By getting away from managingeach document independently it becomes possible to efficiently deal witha significantly higher number of documents and still keep the documentsin a structured order.

Each axis of documents assembles documents in accordance with, forexample, a selected tag, a category, keywords, or an attribute that iscommonly shared among the documents displayed on the axis of documents.The term “attribute” will consistently be used throughout the instantspecification to lighten the reading of the text and will include theother commonality between documents described therein unless otherwisespecified. The selection of one or more attribute (using Boolean logicfor instant) determines which documents will be displayed on the axis ofdocuments. If no specific attribute is selected, then, the axis ofdocuments displays all documents. Thus, all documents on the same axisof documents are normally associated with the selected set orcombination of attributes (trivial data, like publicity or specificrelated information, could be added to an axis as long as the outcomeremains a presentation of documents resulting from a query withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention). In addition, atimeline can be used to determine the order of the suite of documents onthe axis of documents. Chronological ordering is a very intuitiveordering to humans and is one of the preferred ways to present documentson an axis of documents. In the case of a matrix of documents, then, oneaxis (e.g. horizontal direction) of the matrix can represent a timelinewhile the other axis (e.g. vertical direction, orthogonal, . . . )represents another criterion like, for example, the type of computerfiles each document relates to. The other axis can also use a timelineif desirable.

The attributes of a document can be selected to create another axis ofdocuments. The attribute of a document from the newly created axis ofdocuments can be selected to create an additional axis of documents andso on so forth. This is what could be called “relational navigation” andis well described in the United States patent application publicationreferred to at the beginning of the present patent specification. Hence,the user can “navigate” along axes of documents in accordance with theircategorization to visualize the documents. Navigation tools are providedwith the interface to allow navigation through various axes ofdocuments, when a plurality of axes is enabled, and through thedocuments of a single axis of documents. In the context of the presentinvention, a single suite of documents forming an axis along a timelineis one of the preferred embodiments because it is easy to sequentiallynavigate throughout the documents disposed along the axis. Othergraphical layouts of documents might become obvious for a skilled readerin light of the present application and would be considered within thescope of this application.

When only a portion of the axis is visible, a play of zoom, pan andmovements along the axis allows a viewer to navigate on the axis andchange the document(s) that is (are) displayed on the display. A smalldisplay area could display only one document from the axis of documentswhile the remaining documents from the axis of documents are notdisplayed but remain nonetheless at their respective “virtual” positionon the axis and ready to be displayed if the axis is scrolled to showother documents. In other words, if we consider a mobile platform like amobile phone having a small display, the small display area might allowto efficiently displaying only one document at the time. However, thedisplayed document being part of an axis of documents, the otherdocuments on the axis of documents remain displayable in accordance withtheir respective position on the axis of documents when the axis isscrolled/navigated/gestured.

Referring now to FIG. 4, it is possible to appreciate an embodimentdepicting a plurality of documents 200 disposed on various axes ofdocuments 202, A, B and C illustratively juxtaposed next to each other.Another embodiment could provide more or less axes of documents 202. Oneaxis of documents 202, in the present situation axis of documents A, 205has previously been selected and is considered the active axis 207 ofdocuments among the three axes of documents 202, A, B and C.

The selection of an axis of documents 202 to become an active axis ofdocuments 207 can be made via a simple selection performed with apointing device on a display, hand gestures on a touch sensitivedisplay, body movement gestures in a sensing region of multi-dimensionalsensors or other suitable means to influence the selection of the axis202. A selection of the rails 215, or wherever on the axis of documents,will select the axis of documents. If the selection is made on adocument 200 of the axis of documents 202, the pointed document 200 willbecome the active document 220 in one of the embodiments of theinvention. Alternatively, in another embodiment, the active document 220of a non-selected axis of documents 202 will remain the same until a newactive document 220 is selected.

An active document 220 is a document on which the focus is put oninstead of the other documents on the same axis or on a plurality ofother axes. Specific functions are associated with an active document220 (or a document in focus). For example, an active document 220 can bemagnified in a separate display area to better appreciate the details ofthe document, rapid change of active documents can rapidly change themagnified document in the separate windows, the active element canchange from one document to another document to navigate among documentswithout loosing selection of other documents, . . . . Conversely,selecting documents allows to act on the selected documents to, forexample, copy the document, refresh the thumbnail of the document and soon so forth. In other words, the activation of a document allows actionsthereon that are unlikely possible if only a function of selectingdocuments is provided.

The first axis of documents 202 can be automatically selected when agroup of axes of documents 204 is displayed for a first time. A defaultselected axis of documents 202 can be defined in the group of axes ofdocuments preferences to always get the same selected axis of documentswhen the group of axes of documents 204 is displayed for the first time.

The active axis of documents A, 205 is visually discriminated by, forexample, enlarged axis border, or rails, 210 as opposed to axis rails215 of unselected axes 202, B and C. Other active axis of documents 205identification could be used, like a change in color of the axis ofdocuments 205 and a change in color, thickness or texture of the rails215, without departing from the scope of the present invention.

In one embodiment, each axis of documents 202, A, B and C has an activedocument 220 illustratively identified with a bolder dotted border 222.In the present situation, documents A-8, B-8 and C-8 are identified asactive documents 220.

In the present embodiment, only the active document 220 A-8 of theactive axis A, 205 can be acted upon without changing the selected axisof documents. For example, only the selected document A-8, 220 of theactive axis A, 205 is moveable using the keyboard's arrows, for instancein an embodiment, or by hand gesture in another embodiment directed totouch screen navigation. Thus the active document can change inaccordance with the action of the user. In the present situation, if auser actuates the left arrow on the keyboard, the active document 220will change to A-7 then A-6, A-5 and so on so forth till document A1 isactive. If the user further move to the left then the focus of thedisplay will change to see the next document to the left (A-0) that isnot visible at the moment. The same mechanism works on the right side tosee document A-9 for instance.

Information 225 related to the selected axis of documents A, 205 and/orthe active document C-8, 222 is displayed on the header 230 locatedabove 230 the group of axes 204. The following information can, interalia, be displayed simultaneously or consecutively on the header 230:

-   -   Title of the selected axis of documents;    -   Number of documents on the axis of documents;    -   Title of the selected document;    -   Date of the selected document;    -   Number of the selected document among all documents in the axis        of documents; and inter alia    -   Number of unread documents on the axis of documents.

The size, color, width and height of the header 230 can be modifiedwithout departing from the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a selected document 235 in addition to the activedocuments 222. The selected document 235 can be acted upon as opposed tothe active document 222 that mainly identify the document on whichvisualization is directed. The selection 235 of a document 200 can bedone to copy, cut and act upon the selected document 235.

As illustrated in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, one or manydocuments 200 can sequentially or collectively be selected 235 on anactive axis of documents 205. The selection 235 can be made by pointingthe desired document 200 with the pointing device (cursor not shown) andclicking on the document 200. A multiple selection of documents 235, 200can be done by dragging an area over the axis 202 or by using the SHIFTor COMMAND key. Other means for selecting documents like a contact of abody part on a touch sensitive display or body movements in a sensingregion of a multi-dimensional sensing device are encompassed by thepresent specification as well. In FIG. 6, document 200, A-2, A-5 throughA-8, in axis of document 202, A, are selected and represented by adarker filling 237.

The selection of a document 200, with a pointing device or other means,of another will enable the lastly selected document as the activedocument 220. The active document 220 in the case of a multipleselection of documents 200 will be the lastly selected document 235,200.

Turning now to FIG. 7 where axis B is the active axis identified bybolder rails 210. In this example, document B-5 has been pointed by theuser of the interface and is the active document 220. Meanwhile theactive axis has changed to axis B since the last action has been made onaxis B.

FIG. 8 illustrates the embodiments of FIG. 7 where the active documentB-5, 220 is also a selected document 240 depicted with a darker moreopaque filling.

The active document 220 has moved to the left to document B-4 as opposedto document B-5 while document B-5 remains selected as illustrated inFIG. 9.

Holding down the COMMAND key (or a proper gesture) and selectingdocument B-4 it now shows in darker filling in FIG. 10 along with stillselected document B-5.

Now, from the illustrative scenario of FIG. 10, document B-1 is selectedholding the SHIFT key to select 240 in group documents B-3 to B-1.

Still beginning with the illustrative scenario of FIG. 11, holding theCOMMAND key, document B-1 is selected another time to deselect it asillustrated in FIG. 12 where document B-1 does not have a dark fillinganymore.

Again, another example beginning with the illustrative scenario of FIG.12, holding the COMMAND key, document B-7 is selected to select it asillustrated in FIG. 13 where document B-7 have a dark filling.Additionally, in a second action, holding the COMMAND key, document B-2is selected to deselect it as illustrated in FIG. 13 where document B-2does not have a dark filling 237 anymore. The left arrow key has pressedto move the active document 220 to document B-1.

Turning now to FIG. 14 where documents B-3 through B-7 have beenunselected either by selecting independently a second time each of thedocuments 200 or by collectively deselecting documents B-3 and B-7holding the SHIFT key. Then document A-2 has been selected, the activedocument of axis A has been moved with the arrow key to move it todocument A-8. Then document C-8 has been selected, and shows in darkerfilling, and becomes the active element 220. Axis C also becomes theactive axis at the same time. Combining keyboard keys may be used inorder to navigate and select element. These keys may vary for specificneed or may depend on the Operating System platform of the user.Combining arrow key with several modifier keys, such as ALT or CONTROL,the user may navigate from a time unit to another. Using multiplemodifiers like SHIFT with ALT or CONTROL with arrow key, the user maymake a selection or expand current selection from the active element tothe next or previous time unit. Using Page Up and Page Down, the usermay navigate from a screen, display or windows, to another. Using PageUp and Page Down with SHIFT may create a selection or expand the currentselection from the active element to the next or previous screen,display or windows. Using Home and End keys, the user may navigate tothe start or the end of the axis of document. Using Page Up and PageDown with SHIFT may create a selection or expand the current selectionfrom the active element to start or the end of the axis of document.

On FIG. 15, the scenario of FIG. 14 is copied although the activedocument in axis C has been moved to document B-5, 220 with the arrowkey from the keyboard.

FIG. 16 illustrates two distinct groups of axes of documents 250, 260.The first group 250 illustratively comprises three axes of documents A,B and C. The second group of documents 260 also illustratively, butnon-restrictively, comprises three axes of documents A, B and C. Thefirst group of axes 250 is active as opposed to the second inactivegroup of axes 260 that is inactive. The active axis of documents 250 isactive because document 255 is the active document of the active axis C.Should another document of the same axis A or another axis B or C ofgroup A be the active document, group A would still be the active groupof axes.

The inactive group of axes of documents 260 also has a plurality of axesof documents, a latent active axis of documents C and latent inactiveaxes of documents A and B. We consider latent axes of documents becausethey have a particular state in an inactive group of axes 260—that isillustrated in a lighter color thereof to ensure sufficient discrepancywith the active group of axes of documents 250.

Still referring to FIG. 16, document 270 in group 250, illustrated withvisually distinct border 272, is also present in group of axes 260.Document 270 is repeated in axis A as document A-4 with similar border272. This is an example of correlation among various axes of documents200 located in different groups of axes of documents 200 to provideinsight to a user as to what documents are found in more that one axisof documents (that might represent various queries or other grouping ofdocuments 200). A border or a frame can illustrate repetition of adocument 200. In one embodiment of the present invention, the solerepetition of a document is enough to visually illustrate therepetition. The visual distinctive feature used to visually discriminatethe repeated documents 200 can also represent a repeated document in thecase the repeated document is an active document 220 or a selecteddocument 240.

In embodiments of the present specification is presented selected andnon-selected axes of documents. At least one axis from a plurality ofaxes can be selected to apply actions thereon. It is therefore possibleto perform operations on axes that is going to effect, in at least oneembodiment, the documents contained therein. A selected axis is going tobe graphically discriminated from the other axes by, for example, abolder border 215.

In the present embodiment of the invention, axes of documents may beconsidered as active and/or selected. FIG. 17 depicts a plurality ofaxes of documents with different border rails styles. The thin full line210 indicates the user that the axis of documents is neither active norselected. The thin dotted line 211 indicates the user that the axis ofdocument is selected but not active. The thick dotted line 216 indicatesthe user that the axis of document is selected and active. A thick fullline 215 (not shown in FIG. 17) would represent an active but notselected axis of documents. Other styles or colors may be applied or addmore variation for further semantic needs. In the preferred embodiment,the user is constraint to have only one active axis of documents at atime in one axes of the document's environment, but it may be possibleto have multiple active axes at a time for particular needs.

Selection of a plurality of axes of documents gives possibility to theuser of doing operations to all the selection, such as changingproperties to a common value, joining axes of document in a group, etc.

FIG. 18 is an illustrative representation of a plurality of axes ofdocument with a filter on an attribute. In the illustrative example, theaxes of documents 202.1, 202.2 and 202.3 shows only documents that haverespectively attribute A, B and C defined. Some documents may be shownin multiple axes of documents since they have attributes that satisfymany filters. In the illustrative example, these instances 200.1, 200.2and 200.4 are aligned horizontally to help the user see the commonresults.

One embodiment of the present invention is to consider selecteddocuments in a plurality of documents as a common selection of document.When a document is selected, all shared instance in all axes ofdocuments should be marked as selected as well. FIG. 19 shows how theuser select the document 200.4 in axis 202.1 was selected and how allinstance of 200.4 in other axes of documents were selected as well.

The user interface may gives user several menu commands or keyboardshortcuts to do operation on active or selected axes of documents. Inthe illustrative example FIG. 20, the user made the axis of document202.3 active then use a “select all” operation on this axis of document.One can appreciate that shared selection also affected the document200.2 in axis 202.1.

FIG. 21 illustrate a similar behaviour where the user made the axis ofdocument 202.2 active, and then a “unselect all” operation wastriggered. The document 200.1 was already unselected and stay stillwhile document 200.4 is unselected. In the illustrative example how allinstances of document 200.4 got unselected in other axes of document202.1 and 202.3. Documents 200.2 and 200.5 remains selected since theywere not modified by the last operation.

One can appreciate the way the Set union operation can be easily madewith these axes of documents. Selection of axes of documents can be useto made other Set operations. FIG. 22 shows the result of anintersection operation. The user made a selection on axes of documents202.1 and 202.2 and triggers an intersection operation on selected axesof documents. Commons documents of all selected axes of documents, sucha 200.1 and 200.4 get selected while others 200.1, 200.2 and 200.5 getsunselected. Different behaviour may be defined to make a union betweenthe last state of the selection and the current result of theintersection. In this case, 200.2 and 200.5 would have remainedselected.

All these user activities may be describe as a succession ofmathematical Set operation. By example, user operations illustrated onFIGS. 18-22 can be described like:

“(((is document 200.4) UNION (has attribute C)) MINUS (has attribute B))UNION ((has attribute A) INTERSECTION (has attribute B))”

The user may use this selection to create a new axis of document withselected documents only. This new axis of document may use this Setdescription to create a Boolean predicative condition over documents.

One embodiment of the present invention is that the user may have thechoice to have a static or dynamic document selection. These two modesaffect documents that are added, modified or removed live. These eventsmay happen because another process or other users over a network, byexample, access the documents that are currently shown in axis ofdocuments.

Static selection is a conservative way to react to these events. Addeddocument are not added to selection, modified document stay in selectionand removed documents are removed from selection. This is the defaultselection behaviour in most applications as it is the most predictablesystem, but lacks power.

Dynamic selection is an operation-based selection. Using the Setoperation made from select all, unselect all, intersection and other Setoperations on selection, the document events stay consistent with thisoperation. Added documents get selected if they respect the selectionoperation scheme, modified documents get selected or unselected if theyrespect or not the selection operation scheme. Finally, the removeddocuments get removed from selection.

FIG. 23 shows how a newly created document 200.6 appears in axes 202.1and 202.2 since it have the attributes A and B. A visual distinctivefeature 250 may be shown to indicate the user that this document is newand have been added to the axis of document. The document getsautomatically selected with the dynamic selection system, since it is aresult of the intersection between axis of document 202.1 and 202.2.

FIG. 24 shows how the modified document 200.4 gets modified. A visualdistinctive feature 255 may be shown to indicate the user that thedocument gets modified. The document 200.4 gets its attribute A removed,so it is no longer a member of axis of document 202.1. Since theselection is dynamic, the document 200.1 is not part of the intersectionof axes of documents 202.1 and 202.2 anymore, so the document 200.4 getsunselected in all axis of documents it appears.

This strategy of dynamic selection may be used in large database resultswhere the client application may truncate the axis of document forbandwidth, speed or memory optimization. As the user navigates in thelarge axis of document, parts of it may be loaded (and other partsunloaded) by the system. In this situation, when a user made a Setoperation, such as a “select all”, “unselect all”, unions,intersections, differences, the server could compute a Boolean operationfrom this succession of Set operation and makes change happen on theserver-side when the user choose to do an operation on the list ofdocuments selected. It frees the client application of determining thecomplete list of selected documents and communicates the server thesuccession of Set operation or its Boolean equivalent formula instead ofthe complete list of selected documents.

Another embodiment of this invention is to gives the possibility to theuser to maintain a plurality of selected documents Sets. The interfacemay show only one selection at a time and give the user a possibility toswitch from a selection Set to another, create a virgin selection anddelete a selection. The interface may also show multiple selections atthe same time by using different color or patterns over the selecteddocuments of the different Sets. Finally, these distinct Sets may beused to create a new Set by using Set operation over other Sets, such asunion, intersection, difference, etc. This gives the possibility to theuser to construct complex Sets selection operations.

The selection Set operations can be saved, loaded, used to create newaxis of document of the selection, used the condition to create visualdistinctive features, create permissions rules, etc.

Turning now to FIG. 25 illustrating where is depicted another embodimentof the invention directed to navigation among documents 200 in axes 202of documents and groups 204 of axes of documents.

In FIG. 25, active document 300, on axis A 202, illustrated with a boldframe 302, is adapted to sequentially move the activation of an adjacentdocument to the left 304, or to the right 308, to move the selection ofthe active document to another document 200. One can appreciate that theactual document does not move and it is the activation of the documentthat is enabled. Navigation from an active document to a document makesit active in an embodiment. The active document preferably automaticallychanges by the sole movement of the selection thereof. For example, anactive document can be magnified in a separate window to appreciate moredetails thereof. Changing of active document is going to change thedocument that is magnified in the separate window. Navigation with anactive document among the documents is going to sequentially magnify thedocuments 200 that are going to be active at some point during thenavigation.

Returning back to active document 300, no movement of the activedocument is possible above because there is no more axes 202 above ofaxis A 202. No movement is possible below because there is no adjacentdocument 200 directly below document 300 on axis B 202 at location 312.The same dynamic is applied to document 316 where a downward movement ispossible toward document 320 because document 320 is adjacent todocument 316. One can appreciate that in the embodiment illustrated inFIG. 25, the documents 200 are vertically and horizontally aligned in amatrix type of configuration. This alignment is desirable because eachaxis 202 assembles documents pertaining to a same commonality while thevertical alignment is possible because the same timeline 324 is sharedby all the axes 202 of the group of axes 204 formed thereby andseparated with separators 328. In the present situation, the separatorsare separating time in days while other embodiments could separate thelongitudinal axes in accordance with another criterion without departingfrom the scope of the present invention.

Still referring to FIG. 25, is illustrated document 332 that can providetherefrom three navigation directions, up, left and right. Movementdownward is not allowed because there is no document 200 at location 336in axis E 202. Document 344 has similar navigation possibilities whiledocument 348 can navigate toward all four directions because it isbordered by documents 200 in all the four orthogonal directions.Alternatively, and that embodiment is not illustrated in the Figures,navigation could be made at an angle from a document when there aredocuments in that direction.

Another embodiment illustrated in FIG. 25 provides navigation capabilityamong documents 200 on an axis even if there are no documents 200immediately next to the subject document. In the present situationdocument 340 can move to the left and to the right to directly reachdocument 344. In this embodiment, no movement is allowed to another axis202 because there are no documents immediately adjacent to document 340on another adjacent axis B, D, 202.

Document 352 illustrates another embodiment that allows navigation toanother axis 202 of documents despite there is no adjacent document onthe adjacent axis of document 202. This “jump” 354 to the next availabledocument 356 can be based on a preselected option or by being actuatedby a specific action like, for instance, a double-click of the arrowpointing above on the keyboard, of the like.

Another embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 25. Document 352 does not haveaccess to juxtaposed documents in axes 202, F, E, D and C to reachdocument 356 in axis B. A previous embodiment described a “jump” 354 tothe next available document 356. This embodiment allows “ghost”documents 356 allowing a sequential navigation between axes 202 when nodocument exists to support the actual navigation using activation of thedocuments as previously describe above. The “ghost” document 356identifies the virtual position of what would be an active document,even if there are no document, to allow sequential navigation to axesfrom where a longitudinal navigation can begin to reach the nextdocument available on the subject axis. For example, active document 352would allow a jump 354 to axis B. In this circumstances there is notpossible to stop to another intervening axis 202 to further navigatethereon. The present embodiment would provide intervening steps onintervening axes C, D, E and F, herein referred to as “ghost” documents356, activating no document thereof, because there is no documentaligned with document 352, while allowing axial navigation on axis F, tothe right, from ghost document 356.1. Moving up with another ghostdocument 356.2 that would allow navigation to the left. Then ghostdocument 356.3 allowing navigation to the left and the right. After, ifmoved toward axis C, ghost document 356.4 allows also navigation on bothaxial sides and finally reaching document 356 from which navigationtherefrom has been explained above.

FIG. 26 illustrates a sequence of navigation beginning with document 370on axis A 202 that is going to reach document 374 and not changesdirection downward to reach document 376 on axis D 202. Now, navigationfrom document 376 is embodied to directly reach document 380. Document380 is an intersecting document between axis D 202 and axis 1202. Forexample, axis D includes documents 200 having a common attribute “D” andaxis 1202, provides documents 200 having common attributes “D” and “I”.Navigation on axis 1202 can therefore be made in the direction of axis1202, vertically, since axis 1202, is illustrated vertically, orthogonalto the other axes 202.

Finally, the present specification has recited many possible embodimentsthat can be practiced independently and/or collectively, if desirable.It is considered that the text of the present specification has beendrafted as it is for helping a reader to understand many differentembodiments taken independently and is not intended to limit the scopeof any of the embodiments or combinations thereof.

The description and the drawings that are presented above are meant tobe illustrative of the present invention. They are not meant to belimiting of the scope of the present invention. Modifications to theembodiments described may be made without departing from the presentinvention, the scope of which is defined by the following claims:

What is claimed is:
 1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium havingstored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by aprocessor of a computer system, provide a method of navigating amonginformation elements disposed in a layout of information elements,defining a matrix-like structure, the method comprising: causing aplurality of information elements to be displayed among a plurality ofaxes of information elements; and causing a first information elementfrom a departing axis of information elements, at an axial locationthereof, to become an active information element; wherein the activeinformation element is adapted to shift to a second information elementdisposed on an arrival axis of information elements when the arrivalaxis of information elements is parallel to the departing axis ofinformation elements; and the second information element has an axiallocation corresponding to the axial location of the first informationelement.
 2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1,wherein the arrival axis of information elements is adjacent to thedeparting axis of information element.
 3. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein shifting the activeinformation element is made on a basis of a command performed by a user.4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein theactive information element is adapted to shift to an adjacent arrivalaxis of information elements having no axially corresponding informationelement thereon, the active information element being adapted to shiftto a ghost information element located on the adjacent arrival axis ofinformation elements and having an axial location corresponding to theaxial location of the first information element.
 5. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 4, wherein the ghost informationelement is adapted to bridge a sequential shift of the activeinformation element to another information element located on anon-adjacent axis of information elements.
 6. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein at least one axis ofinformation elements displays information elements thereon in accordancewith a collation function.
 7. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 6, wherein the collation function is a chronologicalorder.
 8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1,wherein the active information element is adapted to shift to a thirdinformation element from the first axis of information elements when thethird information element is next to the active information element andnot adjacent to the active information element.
 9. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein at least some of theinformation elements are user-selectable.
 10. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein at least some of theinformation elements are documents.
 11. A computerized system configuredto read computer-executable instructions adapted to enable a programenabling an interface adapted to display axes of computer-readable filesand identify an active computer-readable file thereon, the computerizedsystem comprising: a processing unit configured to process the computerexecutable instructions; and a display configured to display theinterface; the program, when executed, being operative to: cause aplurality of computer-readable files to be displayed among a pluralityof axes of computer-readable files; and cause a first computer-readablefile from a departing axis of computer-readable files, at an axiallocation thereof, to become an active computer-readable file; whereinthe active computer-readable file is adapted to shift to a secondcomputer-readable file disposed on an arrival axis of computer-readablefiles when the arrival axis of computer-readable files is parallel tothe departing axis of computer-readable files; and the secondcomputer-readable file has an axial location corresponding to the axiallocation of the first computer-readable file.
 12. The computerizedsystem of claim 11, wherein the arrival axis of computer-readable filesis adjacent to the departing axis of computer-readable file.
 13. Thecomputerized system of claim 11, wherein shifting the activecomputer-readable file is made on a basis of a command performed by auser.
 14. The computerized system of claim 11, wherein the activecomputer-readable file is adapted to shift to an adjacent arrival axisof computer-readable files having no axially correspondingcomputer-readable file thereon, the active computer-readable file beingadapted to shift to a ghost element located on the adjacent arrival axisof computer-readable file and having an axial location corresponding tothe axial location of the first computer-readable file.
 15. Thecomputerized system of claim 14, wherein the ghost element is adapted tobridge a sequential shift of the active computer-readable file toanother computer-readable file located on a non-adjacent axis ofcomputer-readable files.
 16. The computerized system of claim 11,wherein at least one axis of computer-readable files displayscomputer-readable files thereon in accordance with a chronologicalorder.
 17. The computerized system of claim 11, wherein the activecomputer-readable file is adapted to shift to a third computer-readablefile from the first axis of computer-readable files when the thirdcomputer-readable file is next to the active computer-readable file andnot adjacent to the active computer-readable file.
 18. The computerizedsystem of claim 11, wherein at least some of the information elementsare documents.
 19. A method of navigating among axes of documents, themethod comprising: displaying a plurality of documents along a pluralityof axes of documents, each of the axes of documents having a respectivecollation function and an active document thereon, the active documentof an axis of documents being adapted to switch to an adjacent documenton the same axis thus enabling navigation on the axis of documents. 20.The method of claim 19, wherein a plurality of axes of documents areadapted to be combined in a group of axes of documents and share a samecollation function and a unique active element.